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BACKGROUND
RAIN - Easton
RAIN - New Bible ZDictionary
The
full background to this teaching is available online at this link
DETAILED BACKGROUND
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Online links to scriptures (New International Version [NIV] unless otherwise stated) are shown in blue
| WHAT DOES RAIN REPRESENT? |
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 It is widely accepted amongst Christians that rain represents the Holy Spirit.
This has Old Testament origins where, in Isaiah, rain is likened to God's Spirit.
Isaiah 44:3
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Of course, we all understand how, in the natural world, rain is necessary in order for crops to grow, so enabling a harvest to be produced.
No rain = drought = no harvest
Rain in due season = harvest
Jesus refers to a harvest in terms of people coming to know Him.
Matthew 13:38-40
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On the Day of Pentecost, there was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and 3000 were added to the church that day.
Acts 2:38-41
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So it is a simple step, particularly in the hot and dry conditions of agricultural Israel, to relate the Holy Spirit to the rain, which is necessary for, or indirectly, causes the harvest to take place.
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| THE 3 RAINS |
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 One of the big problems we have in understanding the Old Testament in particular, is that there were 2 different calendars used, the secular agricultural and the religious. There was a 6 month difference between them. Thus, to understand the timing of events, it is necessary to know which calendar was being used.
Something for another study at another time.
Just to confuse things, the 2 are sometimes mixed up! So it is with the rains.
The LATTER RAINS came at the beginning of the spiritual year after the crops had been harvested in the Autumn (Fall) providing moisture for the next planting of seed to germinate.
The FORMER RAINS, on the other hand, came just before the harvest, enabling the crops to swell and mature.
Israel was promised, if it walked in the ways of the Lord, that the rains would come in due season.
Deuteronomy 11:13-14
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| THE PROPHECY OF JOEL |
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This is often quoted but not so often understood!
In the first part, the promise is made by God that the rains will come and the harvest be restored.
Joel 2:23-7
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And the resulting work of the Holy Spirit is:
Joel 2:28-32
The rain therefore, is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.
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| NEW TESTAMENT APPLICATION |
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 We will now have a look and see how the '3 rains' of outpourings of the Holy Spirit, apply in New Testament times.
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| THE LATTER RAIN (Symbolic of the original Day of Pentecost) |
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 The first outpouring of the Holy Spirit (the Latter Rain!) on the Day of Pentecost produced a harvest of 3,000 souls.
Acts 2:1-4, 41
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In an amazing fulfillment of Scripture they replaced the 3,000 who were killed on the first Day of Pentecost at Mt Sinai, at the time Moses was given the Law.
Exodus 32:27-8
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THE DRY SUMMER
After the Latter Rains in Israel, the country experienced a long, hot, dry summer.
In our experience this represented the time from around 100AD to 1900AD, where the Holy Spirit, while still there amongst smaller groups of people, was not very active in the main body of the church.
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| THE FORMER RAINS (Symbolic of the Holy Spirit revival of the early 20th Century) |
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 The harvest rains provided the moisture required to bring the crops to maturity.
Today's New Testament fulfillment, has been the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of the early 1900's that led to the formation of the Pentecostal church and which has since penetrated many churches through the Charismatic Revival.
For example, fifty years ago, here in New Zealand, there were hardly any charismatic Baptist churches while today, most are 'Spirit filled'.
Over the past century there has been a harvest of souls throughout the world, which still continues today, the like of which has never been seen in history.
However, the promise of God through Joel, in slang terms, can be expressed as 'you ain't seen nothing yet'!
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| THE FORMER AND LATTER RAINS TOGETHER IN THE FIRST MOMTH |
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 Let us look again at the prophecy.
3Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. (Joel 2:23)
This speaks of a last day revival of huge proportions that will happen very quickly.
24And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. (Joel 2:24-5)
And in Israel too!
26And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. 27And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. (Joel 2:26-7)
This is confirmed in Amos.
Amos 9:13-15
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The Passover is celebrated in the New Testament by the taking of Communion.
Communion is not merely a ritual but is the link between us and Christ through which we are joined to Him.
1 Corinthians 10:16
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We are to take Communion much more seriously (and more frequently) than we do for it links Christ and His church through His body and His blood. We are to be one with Him.
Ephesians 5:30
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| THE GLORIOUS CHURCH TO COME |
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 At this time, teachings such as this, along with similar ones such as the 'double anointing', the 'bride of Christ' and the 'sons of God' seem impossible to imagine. For the increase of righteousness and holiness they portray seem, and indeed are, beyond what we can envisage in the church today.
The reality is, we cannot achieve these things by ourselves, in our own strength. Skeptics abound. 'It is impossible', they say. 'Only a pipedream!'
Yet God's promises are very clear.
Yes, His perfected church will come, through the power of the Holy Spirit radically changing lives very quickly, as promised in the coming of the Former and Latter Rains together.
Lord, bring on the rain!
Picture: A Jewish bride.
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| <i>NEXT WEEK</i> THE COVENANTS OF THE LORD |
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 A look at the 7 main covenants between God and man.
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| A NOTE FROM DAVID |
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 Over the years I have struggled with what the Lord has shown me about the end time church. For I too can be skeptical - as my wife reminds me!
I have gone through times of wanting to live my life perfectly, and of course, found that has not been possible in my own strength.
However, I can now better understand that a time is coming when the Holy Spirit will abound in such power that those who are open to His change will fulfill the promises that have been made.
For Christ is returning for a pure and spotless bride.
Ancient Babylonia - The People of the Sealand
A second group of people who proved to be a formidable force was the people of the Sealand, a kingdom to the extreme south of Babylonia along the Persian Gulf. Little is known about these people as well, a list of the names of their Kings is all that has been discovered, but no native sources. We do know that it was a powerful nation that continually challenged Hammurapi's successors, and for a period of time controlled Nippur in the center of the plain. Because of their location in the south they were strongly Sumerian in character. The Kassites eventually conquered the people of the Sealand.
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So until next week.......
MAY GOD BLESS YOU AND YOU BLESS GOD!
His servant and yours
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A DAVID'S DOODLING
988. Growing pains happen in the spiritual as well as the natural.
David Tait
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